


Snow Angels

by NightingaleLost



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fantrolls, Gen, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-05-13
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightingaleLost/pseuds/NightingaleLost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jhodin stumbles across a troll in the snow on night, and after discovering she is still clinging to life, rescues her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Angels

**Author's Note:**

> The very late half of my art trade with Zimmington on tumblr

The cold had settled in like a rising tide at midnight, creeping up from below her ankles until it was over her shoulders and she couldn't remember what dry warmth felt like. It hadn't been quite as sharp before, more a dull ache that seeped into her bones, but now the bitter wind was stinging her cheeks and eyes, and though there was no active snowfall yet, she didn't doubt the fact that it would blind her. Her arms had been wrapped around herself for quite some time now, though she barely noticed it. She wondered if it was this cold in sunlight, and whether or not even those harsh rays were enough to melt even a little bit of this white. Probably not.

 

Not for the first time she was grateful for the thick, long sweater she wore. Without it she was sure she wouldn't have lasted this long here. When she had first woken up on the frosted ground she had thought of turning back, or even just in another direction from the snow covered mountains looming above her. But nothing good came from straying, and a chill that had nothing to do with the cold surrounding her went up her spine as her mind became clouded with images of blood.

 

There had been nothing for it, she had to go forward.

 

But she could feel in her body the dangers of this place, as she had felt once stepping foot into the area. She wasn't used to the cold, not anything like this, and she was tired. She had been walking for hours without rest, and the sun would come up soon; sleep was calling to her, luring and dark. She knew full well though, what would happen if she fell asleep in a place like this with no real protection. Lelant wondered if this would be it then. She couldn't hold off sleep forever, and there was no way one night was enough to cross the entirety of this mountain range, whose peaks had blocked the sky when she had first seen them. She had never really thought about how the end of her dreaming punishment would happen, but this was certainly not like anything she had expected. It would be sort of fitting however, in a twisted way, to die in a place miles from home, or what had been home, as cold and forbidding as her plains had been hot and bewitching.

 

The wind howled around her ears but it was only a minor annoyance now and she hunched further within the circle of his arms, her shoulders like stiff round hills. She could feel the cold sting into her horns, a pin prickle that she had never felt before but knew all the same that it wasn't natural. She stumbled on a hidden rock and for a minute thought about getting out her staff to help her, but that would mean unwinding her arms from where they were, and she felt a little frozen right about now.

 

She didn't notice when it was that she fell down, only that she wasn't moving after a while, and one side of her was colder than the other. Before she could try to get up her eyes closed, and everything went black.

 

**

 

The wind had picked up a fair distance away from his hive and Jhodin looked around, swinging his lantern and making sure no one else was coming up behind him while he checked out the perimeter. So far nothing. The snow was fresh and unmarked, and so far the wind wasn't yet strong enough to wipe away anything that might have passed through.

 

He didn't think anything was going to pass through tonight; there was a storm coming and any animal with sense was holing up in the ice caverns to wait it out. He should probably get back as well before it caught him and buried him under a blizzard's worth of snow. Jho cast bleary eyes out in front of him before turning around, only to turn back again.

 

There were tracks in the snow. He inched closer, dipping his light closer. Not just any track, footprints. A troll had been here.

 

He pulled his pickaxe from his modus, his nervousness making the white breath in front of him spiral faster. In this snow they had to have been recent, maybe just an hour old, and he didn't know just how dangerous they might be, or if it would have less than innocent intentions to those it came across. Another glance around before he examined the track again. They were pretty small, maybe about as big as his own, so he might not have as much trouble in a fight with it...maybe...

 

But then again, who would be out here, on this night with this weather? Jhodin raised his lantern, peering out into the distance beyond the tracks. They were moving away from his hive anyway, so it shouldn't have been a problem to him anyway.

 

He frowned as he saw an irregular shape a length away, something dark in the middle of grey and white. He inched closer, until the light of his lantern shone on whatever it was. He gasped, accidentally dropping the lantern into the snow. He shoved his pickaxe away, almost tripping as he moved toward the body that his light had revealed.

 

Whoever this track-making troll was, she wasn't in very good condition. Frost had collected on her horns and lashes, and Jho could see that her hands and cheeks were an unnaturally pale color. She probably had frostnip already. Not that it would matter, if she was dead...

 

Jho retrieved his lantern, casting one last look around before he knelt close, bringing the bright glass up to her face. He held his breath, waiting one moment, two.....his patience was rewarded by a very faint misting on the bottom of the light. Jho smiled a little bit; she was still alive. But not for long if he didn't get her out of this weather. He stood up, circling her a few times, wondering how he would do this. She looked taller than him, and she was probably heavier. He clipped the lantern to his belt, rubbing his gloved hands together once before reaching down to hook them under the girl's arms, lifting her up. Jho huffed a little; she was definitely heavier than he was.

 

His feet skirted back in the snow, struggling to get moving. After a few pulls she budged from her self made hole and slid easier, and Jho sucked in a breath, moving back inch by inch. This might take a while.

 

**

 

Jhodin reached his hive a while later, just as the storm arrived, blowing snow down from above and whipping the wind into a new frenzy. He had been getting worried that they really would be stuck out in the snow for the day, and he was glad that wasn't the case, considering how badly this troll was in the need of warmth. He pushed open the door to his hive, dragging the girl carefully as far in as he could before lowering her head gently and rushing to close the door. He wold probably have to dig himself out afterward.

 

He leaned against the wood for a minute, relaxing. Rescuing people was hard work. It was one thing to scavenge for supplies off of the bodies of dead trolls, but it was definitely something different to drag a troll taller than you through feet of snow and an impending blizzard.

 

Jho took off his gloves, relishing the warmth his igloo and its oil lamps provided him. Alright, he should probably get this troll to a better place than sprawled out on the floor. Which was technically snow. This was not gonna help her frostnip. He quickly ran over to his bed, shuffling all the small trinkets he collected off to a corner where they wouldn't disturb, and smoothed out the covers.

 

Another minute of effort had him lifting the troll high enough to roll on the bed, and he grimaced at the feeling of frozen damp on his fingers. The snow had soaked into the front of her giant sweater thing. It wasn't a very good material to have out in the mountains, too much got soaked into stuff like that. He tugged the wet thing off of her, along with the half-apron wrapped around it, revealing a white tank top, and Jho frowned at it. She had not come very prepared into the dangerous cold of his lands. He hung up the sweater on a rack by a few lamps and piled blankets over her until only her head could be seen.

 

Jhodin sat on a chair nearby, his eyes darting to the troll on his bed every few seconds. He really hoped she didn't die. That'd be really terrible, and he probably wouldn't be able to get the body out until the storm was over and who knew how long that could take. Now that he thought about it, he also hoped she wouldn't turn out to be dangerous. He had fought a lot of lusii before, but he couldn't remember fighting a troll.

 

It'd be just his luck to have saved a bloodthirsty murderer or something. Jho shifted nervously, laying his pickaxe where it was close at hand.

 

After another couple of minutes he sighed and stood up. Well he might as well make something to eat while he waited for her to wake up.

 

**

 

Lelant opened her eyes, staring up at a white ceiling as she sluggishly wondered what had woken her up in the first place. The last thing she remembered was...being cold. The mountains had been even more cold than she could have ever imagined, and she was sure she would die there...

 

It was much warmer here though. Where ever she was. She became aware of a weight on her chest and looked down to see a pile of blankets over her, so many she could barely see over them. She pushed them back, sitting up and noticing as she did that her coat was missing. Where was she? Had she died? Was this the dreambubbles?

 

“Oh.” A voice startled her; Lelant turned to see a young looking troll set down a cup on the table he sat at, “You're awake.”

 

Lelant tried to stand, mouth open to reply, only to feel a dizziness sweep through her; she barely managed to grab onto the bed to steady herself.

 

“That'll be. The frostnip.” The troll came over to her. “You get a freeze in the blood. And when you get warm your heart sort of. Overcompensates trying to get everything normal. You should probably stay. Down. For now.”

 

Lelant was feeling a little nauseous so she decided it was probably better to listen to what he was saying; she lay back down, getting a better look at whoever this troll was. Aside from his halted speech he looked normal, except for the fact that his skin was paler than any she'd ever seen, and his hair was a shock of white. It didn't look dyed either it was too...bare for that. It didn't look like a color, it looked like his hair didn't have a color to begin with and was sort of white as a default. And despite how young he looked, his irises had already filled in. A blueblood. Although she didn't think that that kind of light blue was a normal color either... He wouldn't stare at her directly; his strange eyes flicked to her for a few seconds and then back to something else.

 

“Where am I? How did I get here?”

 

The troll gestured to a door on the far side of the white hive. “I found you out there. So I brought you in. This is my hive.” He seemed to think for a second as he stared down at his hands. “I'm Jhodin.”

 

“Lelant.” She looked at herself again. “Where is my coat?”

 

Jhodin pointed to a rack on a wall, where her coat hung by a few lamps. “You shouldn't put it on. It's still wet.”

 

Lelant stared at him, trying to make sense of all this. “Am I...am I dead?”

 

The question seemed to startle the other and he actually met her eyes. “What? No, you're not dead. Uh. Yeah. You are very alive. Very.”

 

She stared at him, her thoughts turning in on themselves. She'd never seen a mutant before but she'd heard of them, and maybe this troll was one of them. Either way, he said she wasn't dead and she was inclined to believe it, as everything still felt real to her. Also she doubted ghosts could feel hunger and she was feeling the pangs of it now. Strange as he was though, he had apparently rescued her, and saved her from losing at least a few limbs out in the snow. That might not have been the best thing in her case however...and there was no way she could stay. She would endanger this troll, and he hadn't done anything but be kind to her. She should leave now while she had time enough to get away.

 

She pushed herself up again; this time the nausea did not return. “I should leave.”

 

“But,” Jhodin seemed at a loss for words. “There's a blizzard. You almost died. You _will_ die. Anyways. You can't.”

 

Lelant walked over to her coat, making a face at the wet patches still on the front. “Thank you for rescuing me, but I'll be alright. I can handle it.”

 

“No, you _can't._ ” Jhodin's fingers plucked at the hem of his coat and he nodded toward the door. “The storm is here. The door's been blocked. By snow.”

 

Her heart gave a fearful stutter. Trapped? In here? No, she'd kill this troll and have more blood on her hands, and she already had so much... “I-I...no, okay, I can't stay here, I have to go, you don't understand I have to go _now._ ” She was almost close to panic.

 

A hand brushed her arm, and Jhodin gave her a very awkward pat, giving her what she assumed was a cheering smile. “It's alright. It'll leave soon. And I can dig you out. You'll be ok.” He moved back out of reach, beckoning her to the table. “Do you want something to eat? I made food. If you want it.”

 

Lelant opened her mouth but she couldn't find anything to say. Her shoulders slumped a little, but she nodded anyway. It was their bad luck, and it would another terrible memory to carry once the deed was done. She wished Jhodin had never picked her off of the snow.

 

“Yeah...alright.”


End file.
